Sun Never Sets

Sun Never Sets:
An ASB map based on an idea that I had. This world has a slightly different 18th Century that leads to some changes in European politics starting with the creation of a Franco-Spanish Empire. The Franco-Spanish Empire reaches immense heights before collapsing under it's own weight along with a revolution in the 19th Century. The British Empire is stifled by the Franco-Spanish but they do intervene in the revolution and send forces into Europe. However the Revolution does not fall quickly and the rest of Europe breaks into anarchy. The British take over the Coalition that opposed the revolutionaries and eventually end up nominally occupying most of the continent as they lead the fight against the revolution.

The Franco-Spanish Empire set up a government-in-exile in the Americas but rival factions tear it apart and the empire splinters into several fragments that continue to divide further. The British find enough time, resources and energy to take some territory overseas but most of their attention ends up on Europe. Britain's attitude towards expansion changes completely and a completely new empire emerges. Reactionary sentiment also develops across the entire British Empire. An industrial revolution does take place but in a very different fashion to OTL and the entire 19th and 20th Centuries take a different direction to OTL.

By 2013 the British Empire as a collective is still the supreme global power but it's power is now divided between the various organizations and subdivisions it has had to establish in order to survive. Protectorates, sub-kingdoms, vassals, puppets and dependencies all make up the British Imperium now and also make sure that whatever decisions it tries to make are hindered by a hundred dissenting voices that disagree with something. The political make-up of the British Imperium is just as complicated. The King of England and Britain rules over the entire system with a Parliament underneath him but alongside that are the numerous sub-parliaments of the sub-kingdoms, the puppet governments and even the modern descendants of the Royal Companies. A dizzying variety of special concessions, privileges and autonomous rights exist within the voluminous folds of this bloated government and hinder any real attempt at actual coordinated progress. The Imperial Parliament at the very least provide a meeting place for all of these disparate organisations and a constitution provides some guidelines for the Imperium's general conduct within and without it's borders.

British society is almost universally elitist and aristocratic. The attitude is still fairly reactionary and the power of the upper classes is very secure. It is possible for a member of any of the lower classes to work their way into a position of power and many who do are encouraged to attain a noble title of their own. Even the power of the monarchy is greater than OTL thanks to a lack of an American Revolutionary War as well as having a few more competent kings in history. Much of the Imperium works through local elites in order to maintain control. Despite their reactionary attitudes the Imperium does still encourage industry, duty and noblesse oblige often wrapped in a fairly traditionalist package. Slavery was eventually abolished in the late 19th Century and scientific racism was eventually debunked. However whilst no-one believes that the Africans are not racially inferior they are seen as culturally inferior and that they need the Imperium to look after them and keep them civil. The few remaining descendants of the old Royal Companies are regionally influential corporate powers that still hold some territories here and there. They now have to keep to certain business practices now as required by the Imperial Constitution but they are generally left to themselves and have a lot of autonomy. Since the colonisation of Africa the Imperium has swiftly returned to being a Protestant majority. Before this their European dependencies made them a Catholic majority state and there is still a bit of tension between the denominations and the power that they hold across the many societies of the Imperium. Don't even get started on the impact that the non-Christian faiths can cause.

The states of Europe have some of the highest levels of autonomy. The collective strength of Britain's vassals and dependencies in Europe is their greatest strength within the Imperium but also their most troublesome asset. There are still numerous revolutionary groups and the occasional terrorist attack. The nations that were allied to Britain in the coalition that did not succumb to anarchy have by far the most privilege within the Imperial system. British culture has mixed extensively with the many European cultures and is now a vast amalgam of different characteristics intermixed with more traditionally British values. Sadly not even the expertise of all Europe can save British cooking.

The Ottoman Empire is now a long time ally of the British Imperium and has benefited from the partnership. The Ottomans avoided the worst of the Revolutionary Era but they did lose most of their European territories which the British then occupied. They did successfully industrialise especially once they learnt how to exploit their oil reserves to accelerate it. Today the Ottoman Empire is a federalised entity in a similar manner to the British Imperium and has it's own constitution as well. The government is more military run which has made it a very coherent and organized system but also fairly belligerent, nationalistic and more engineer oriented in it's views on science and technology. Beneath the Ottoman parliament is a complex network of autonomous provinces, vassal states and puppet states. They are still relatively backward compared to a number of other powers and their decentralisation has made them fairly fragile. Their real strength is their grip on the oil deposits of Mesopotamia and Arabia and the power that provides for them on the world stage.

Most of the Americas are made up of various states that emerged from the collapse of the Franco-Spanish Empire. Several of these states are striving to rebuild the empire or at least the American portions of it. The British have left most of them alone in order to focus on more important issues until they had reached the point where their empire was too big and unwieldy to conquer them. Louisiana is the home of the Bourbon royal family and the most enthusiastic of the empire builders. None of the larger states are greater in strength than the other and any attempt to absorb too many of the smaller ones often leads to the others uniting to beat the offender down .

Russia is Britain's greatest rival on the world stage. They pushed East earlier and further than OTL but thanks to their being no Napoleon they actually avoided the worst of the reactionary sentiment that swept most of Europe after the British took control of the occupation. Russia is a now a very autocratic state but it is even more progressive than the British. They are mostly ruled by a very authoritarian Duma that has some elements of clerical-fascism but it is strictly meritocratic does not discriminate on race and has removed most of the aristocracy's teeth. The Orthodox Church does have a great degree of influence within government and is the most popular tool used by the Duma to control the populace. In return the government endorse the church specifically and will often privilege them over other religious groups in the empire. While it may be possible for a Turk to make it into the highest echelons of the government it is possible only if he does not draw attention to his religion and at least pays lip service towards the actions of the Orthodox Church. Russia is a police state that carefully monitors it's citizenry for signs of dissent. Military parades, public executions and political rallies are a common occurrence and are the most overt form of propaganda used by the state. Media is tightly controlled and nearly all news is organised by the government to broadcast propaganda to the masses. Pirate radio stations are a major annoyance for the police and hunts are taking place with greater occurrence.

China weathered the 19th Century in better shape thanks to butterflies. The Qing were overthrown in the more difficult early years but now the empire has made a complete recovery and successfully modernised. There have been numerous on and off wars with Russia over their borders and the Sino-Japanese War of 1910-12 woke the Chinese up to modern warfare but all in all they have pulled through to the present day in great shape. China is still backward compared to the other powers, even Russia, but they have survived through sheer volume as they undergo a new phase of modernisation. The government follows a locally created form of enlightened absolutism that has now transformed into a bureaucratic monarchy that now curtails the Emperor's power through copious amounts of red tape and protocol. Japan was modernised in a very different manner to OTL. They did have an expansionist period that failed miserably on the larger scale and saw the empire remain largely confined to the Pacific Islands. Today it is a largely quiet nation that has instead turned towards industry as well as focusing on maintaining their small empire. They are still very much a nation of Bushido and geisha and upholds far more traditional values than they do compared to OTL.

Despite a few setbacks and some different paths taken most technology is at about OTL levels of development. A few fields such as genetic engineering and stem cell research are actually several years ahead of OTL whilst some forms of computer and digital technology are behind. However overall the world of science is familiar to a traveller from OTL. This world is however a far more authoritarian and traditionalist one and also far more elitist. Class systems are still very apparent and strong in much of the world and the divine right of kings is still a popular concept in many people's minds especially in the Imperium. Racism still exists but it has morphed into a very different creature that places a strange evolution of the White Man's Burden on many people's shoulders. The concept of universal liberal democracy is also a fairly unpopular idea and there is a sense of leaving politics to the politicians so long as they don't descend into outright tyranny. Socialism is still an underground ideology popular with philosophy and politics students or practised by the descendants of the 19th Century revolutionaries. This association with naïve youths or radical terrorists has done no favours for the ideology in the public eye though. Climate change is an officially recognised phenomena and many members of the upper class are leading efforts to combat it and the pollution that is becoming a major problem in certain parts of the world. Reasons generally range from genuine philanthropy to reputation boosts and all the way down to trying to keep private beaches, streams and lakes clean.